A No Stress Guide to Setting Up Your Own High-Tech Retreat

The Hive Pod works with your lifestyle. These smart home products adapt to you.

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Hive window senors send an alert to your smartphone if a window is opened.

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When your light bulb is smart, conserving energy is much easier.

This article is part of a promoted series and not produced by the editorial staff.

You trust Siri to guide you safely home, you order groceries with an app and you store all your priceless pictures on the cloud — but when it comes to home sweet home, you’re still stuck in the 20th century.

What’s holding you back from the high-tech house of your dreams? Hive, a leader in smart home technology, makes it easy to transform your home with plans that include service and smart products that simplify the day-to-day.

1). The Hive Active Thermostat, a thoughtfully designed device that allows you to adjust the temperature remotely and set heating and cooling schedules from your phone. (Try the starter plan if you don’t need a smart thermostat.)

2). Hive Active Lights, with brightness and cool to warm tones that you can adjust or schedule with the touch of a smartphone based upon your mood or the task at hand.

3).Hive Active Plugs, which you can turn on and off from your phone or set to your routine, up to six time slots each day.

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These products speak to one another through the Hive Hub, the heart of your connected home. The device hooks up to your broadband connection and makes it possible for you to control all of your Hive products remotely and securely via the award-winning Hive App, available for smartphone, tablet or desktop.

Setup takes mere minutes, with no need for professional installation. It’s harder to put together your kids’ Christmas toys than it is to transform your home into a smart home. And don’t even get us started on certain types of furniture. This isn’t like that. The whole point of a smart home is to make it easier to do the things you love with the ones you love.

A frustrating setup should not be part of that equation. So, it’s not.

Another benefit of the Hive App is the Hive Actions that really bring the Hive smart home experience to life. You simply open the app, tap “Actions” in the menu, tap “Add a new action,” choose the Action type and select the devices to be linked. Then your lights, sensors and plugs can truly adapt to your lifestyle by communicating with each other.

Imagine all the possibilities with the Hive Actions: Connect your coffee maker to the Hive Active Plug in minutes to wake up to a fresh pot every morning. Set your Hive Active Thermostat to cool when you leave the office, so by the time you’ve completed your commute, your home is the perfect 72 degrees — no need to waste energy while you’re away or sweat needlessly upon arrival. Link your Hive Active Lights to a sensor on your front door so that you never fumble for a switch again. And that’s just the beginning.

Your Hive devices are also compatible with the Echo and Echo Dot, Amazon’s super smart speakers that respond to your voice — just tell Alexa to turn on the TV, bump up the heat or dim the lights. The products also work with Google Home and can connect to If This, Then That (IFTTT), a platform that allows more than 500 different apps and devices to communicate for ultimate automation.

This isn’t a one size fits all situation. With a Hive smart home plan, you can choose the right plan for your specific house and needs. After all, you’re not your neighbor — you shouldn’t be stuck with his plan. Or a bunch of products that don’t work together. This tech has been proven in the United Kingdom — these products work as seamlessly together as the Dallas Cowboys’ most legendary teams. You do not have to spend a lot of money upfront or buy numerous fancy-sounding products that may or may not work. In this case, there is no need to worry.

Your smart home should fit your lifestyle after all. Your smart home needs to be easy to use, convenient and high tech. Anything else and it’s still stuck in another time.